Space

[Sandy Sarna]

Sandy nodded solemnly, the very movement causing tendrils of pain to shoot from her back. "My name is Sandy Senya, I am fourteen, my master's name was Adenna. She was always nice....I miss her so much..." Sandy could feel tears begin to well up again, but she was too exhausted to even cry. Her body shook from the pain, but she knew she had to try to help herself. Healing, the art that had been taught to her by her master. She let her green eyes flicker closed, then concentrated, seeing past the pain, deadening the nerves, and releasing a fresh feeling of rejuvenation and life throughout her body. Her tired muscles calmed, and her mind relaxed, even the slow leak of blood down her back ebbed.

 

She squeezed Mirlada's hand, and sent the same force rejuvenation through their grasp, if Sandy had any luck at all left, it should help the woman. She glanced up when she finished. For harsh and uncouth voices could be heard from outside the door.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

Fourteen? These kriffing chakarre will pay when I get through with them.

 

As though sensing Mirdala's focused disdain for the slavers, she could feel the jetiise using her abilities within the Force, and even directing some of them Mirdala's direction. Her anger abaited a bit, but the focusing principle was still there. Her headache was even beginning to dissipate. This dala'ika was good. It was a useful skill to have and one Mirdala planned on learning from the young habir'jetiise. Though, the girl wouldn't know that's what she was doing. Mirdala would simply encourage her to practice her training verbalizing it to reinforce the lessons and if the Mando'ad happened to pick up a thing or two along the way, then so be it.

 

She opened her mouth to begin encouraging the girl, but the noise from the corridor stopped the words from forming. Immediately she dropped the girls hand and was back on her side of the room, somehow managing to keep the rattling of the chains quiet in the process. With a creak and a groan the heavy door swung open with a blast of cool air, tinged with the stomach-turning aroma of a Gammorean who desperately needed to bathe. He was flanked by a Rodian with a heavy blaster, a male Twi'lik, and a couple of large humans. Mirdala couldn't determine whether or not the others were armed through the dimness.

 

Defiantly she stood, drawing their attention from the injured teen. ”œDi'kut'la chakaarse,”

[Nitestrike]

A single beam of light cut into the darkness that hung over the interior of the derelict Eternal Vigilance. Tentatively, it moved onward, creating a narrow path through the ship, leading the vessel's lone occupant. In an effort to preserve power, most of the ship's systems had been shut offline, and life support was shaky at best. Still, his scans hadn't found any significant damage to the ship and he was confident he could get it moving again.

 

Brad wasn't sure what to expect of the Eternal Vigilance, having never visited it in the past. It's wide corridors and open expanses were not typical designs for ships, and walking through the vessel it was easy to see it was not designed solely as a warship. A power still hung in the air, an ancient force that permeated the walls and led Brad to believe this ship was more than it appeared.

 

Luckily, the ship was set up in a conventional fashion and Brad quickly found the bridge. Setting his light down, he started to work one of the consoles, attempting to bring the ship back online. Slowly, power was being restored to the ship, and soon the lights on the bridge flickered to life. It was all a matter of time, as the computers ran through diagnostic tests before everything was brought back online.

 

That task would essentially handle itself at this point, so Brad began to work on interfacing the Eternal Vigilance's guidance computer to his own ship, The Ebon Blade. The Eternal Vigilance was too big for him to pilot on his own, but with enough time he knew he would be able to get something set up that would allow him to bring the vessel back to more accessible territory.

[Sandy Sarna]

As the horrendous ordeal occured to what seemed like her only friend in the world, Sandy sat, and meditated. Rejuvenating her shattered shoulder, luckily they had not touched her in any other way as of yet. Though no doubt it was to happen soon. She flexed her thin wrists, now free to move as she would like to. Thanks to the careless blaster fire of the slavers. That poor poor woman, no doubt she would be changed forever from the experience. Sandy said a prayer for her. Not praying to the force as some of the other padawans did, but to the one thing that remained from her distant parent's influence. Her God, her faith. For all she hoped, she doubted the prayer would do any good. She needed to escape, to fight back.

 

She gathered one of the lengths of chain into her thin arms and crouched, hiding it. It would be perfect to strangle the next guard with. She smiled wickedly as she heard the general alert siren. A gentle tone, indicating the exit from hyperspace within the coming hour. The moment of doom was soon to grace the putrid floors of the cell. There was one last chance, and she would take it. She had faith.

[Vayne]

The flight so far had been long and uneventful. Gamble had more than enough time to float in the bacta tank while his 'crew' tended to the vessel en route for Ryloth. It wouldn't be too much longer now before they arrived. Less than a couple of days.

[Adenna Alluyen]

((From Thalassia en route to Coruscant))

 

"Well, if your bringing all faults into play, allow me to bring something to light,"

Vos said. "You promised to teach me how to Heal. I have yet to receive training. That was a part of why I came along with you.

 

"In addition," he continued, "I did not use the Dark Side, I just got angry for a second. You have not been emotionally secure either. I ask this of you; is it really the Dark Side when you use it to help people, other than yourself?"

 

Vos' words caused Adenna to pause. The first thoughts that came into her head began to sound like Master Starlisk's words at the top of the slaver's Headquarters Building after she killed their leader. She hadn't agreed with him then and still didn't agree with him now. Being a Jedi wasn't about some abstract concept of moral purity and holiness, it was about doing what was right and protecting the weak and innocent.

 

She considered for a few moments before responding. "You are right about the healing. I have yet to teach you because we have been so busy. I have been so focused on making sure you weren't going to lapse back into the dark side that I didn't have time to each you something else. Even then, you cannot heal if you are wrapped in the dark side, I had to be sure that you were able to use the Force from the perspective of the light side to even attempt teaching you how to heal."

 

She continued, "About using the dark side, no, it is not good even if your goals are honorable. Why? Because as you are probably well aware, the dark side is a very slippery slope. You may be able to control what you are doing now, but in the end, it will seduce you into doing things that are not helpful or good for anyone but yourself. Then, you will be truly evil.

 

"Anger in and of itself is not inherently wrong. There is something called a righteous anger that comes from seeing injustice or wrongdoing and desiring to fix the problem or bring justice upon the wrongdoers. It is not wrong to experience that emotion as it is natural to all, but you must be extremely careful when using it that the source of the anger and what you do are in check. It can quickly become self serving anger or even hatred that will only lead you back to the dark side.

 

"That is why I am so displeased with you. For you to use any anger or any amount of the dark side is very, very dangerous. While a more grounded Jedi could skirt the edge without as much threat of going over, you must be very careful due to your past experience with it. It is like trying to drink only a tiny bit of alcohol: the former alcoholic will have a much harder time with just one drink than one who has never been prone to drunkenness."

 

She didn't think he would truly understand what she was saying. The more time that passed, the more she was beginning to understand that he would never truly embrace the light side. He was simply too steeped in the darkness and it continued to jade his decisions and actions. The ends don't justify the means.

 

In a way, she understood what Master Starlisk was saying about using the Force to kill. He believed she was using the ends to justify the means of killing an evil man. She disagreed with him for the reasons she stated. To her, killing was killing. As long as you didn't kill in an intentionally painful or vengeful manner, she saw no difference in slicing someone in half with a lightsaber, shooting them with a blaster, or using the Force to snap their neck. A Jedi used the Force to guide their lightsaber just as they would to break a neck, it was no different as far as she could see.

 

She wondered if Vos would ever even consider the balance between them or if it was all second nature to him. The Sith had no compunctions about killing with the Force. They just did so for the wrong reasons and with the wrong targets and motivations. Perhaps that was why Starlisk was so against it. In his mind, maybe it was wrong because if the Sith did it, it had to be wrong. Adenna didn't buy that at all. The Sith used lightsabers in the exact same way Jedi did, so clearly that logic didn't fly. Maybe he had some other reason for it that was so far beyond her that she would have to be a Master to understand. If that were the case, then it was far too embedded in theoretical philosophy to be healthy. A Jedi in these times needed to act, not sit around thinking about how to avoid the dark side.

 

Act. Yes, that is what she needed to do.

 

"If you want to learn how to heal," she said at last, "we can start now. Come into the lobby and you can start by healing the cut on my head." She left the cockpit with his lightsaber still in hand and headed to the small lobby. As small as it was, it provided more room than the cramped cockpit.

[Tobias Vos]

Tobias left the controls on auto-pilot as he got up. Without a word, he got up and followed Adenna into the lobby of the ship. The young Kiffar would seriously try his best. He had to. As they walked down the hallway Sooba got up and galloped off. Possibly to Tobias's personal quarters.

 

Then the two stood there in the lobby. Vos hoped that she could sense how sincere he was about learning.

[Adenna Alluyen]

The lobby was in a fairly sad shape. It only sported an old couch with a small and flimsy looking table with which to eat. Off to the side, tucked in a little cubbyhole, was the galley. As hungry as Adenna was, she wasn't quite hungry enough to cook there without giving it a thorough cleaning first. That was the price one paid for buying used and cheap.

 

She sat down on the couch and directed for him to do the same. "Healing isn't like most other usages of the Force," she began. "For one, if not done right, it can drain you far quicker than other abilities. Even if done correctly, it can take a long time and leave you very drained to the point of needing many hours of rest. The more complex the problem or injury, the longer it will take to heal it and the more draining it is. If you want to speed up the healing time, it can take an even larger toll.

 

"I believe you can heal using the dark side, but I would imagine that it would be very, very taxing and far less efficient. The reason is because, unlike most usage of the dark side, healing draws on selflessness rather than selfishness. To heal, you must give some of your own energy purely for the benefit of another. Yes, you can heal yourself, but I find that doing so is just as taxing or even more so.

 

"The reason for that, in my personal opinion and experience, is due to where you draw your motivation and strength from. Healing yourself isn't necessarily a selfish act, but neither is it a selfless one born of love or compassion. When I am healing myself, it drains me and takes longer than when I am healing others. When I heal others, I draw upon my compassion for their pain and desire to end their suffering and use it to fuel my use of the Force. It makes the entire process go by much quicker and easier and I find that I am not nearly as drained as otherwise. When healing myself, I often must go into a healing trance just to sustain myself. I have never had to do so when healing others."

 

She shrugged and looked at Vos with a leery expression that held no heat or anger, "Of course, I may just be weak and you may just be so much more powerful than normal people and will be able to heal without a problem. Assuming that isn't the case, you are going to need to learn to draw upon the light side and those 'weak' emotions that the Sith view as beneath them. That is why I have struggled to teach you how to draw upon the light side instead of just showing you how to heal on your own. You must touch your compassion, love, and mercy in order to heal with maximum efficiency."

 

For the next thirty minutes, she went over in more detail how to direct the Force to heal. She went over both the theories behind it and the application. She finished with a few quick demonstrations on minor abrasions to let him see and sense how it worked.

 

She reached up to pull back her hair so Vos could better see the scalp wound. While it wasn't her only injury, it was an easy one to address and would allow Vos to see the fruits of his labor more than healing the many bruises and the burn she had. It wouldn't take more than a few minutes for her to completely heal it herself, but she knew it would probably take Vos far longer as he tried to figure it out. She didn't mind as they didn't have anything else to do. They were both covered in dust and blood and who knew what else from the battle, but healing up would be of more help than a nice shower.

 

"Now, try to heal this cut. Focus on the light side emotions but don't go overboard. I will stop you if you start doing something wrong."

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

Once more the Golden Ark started it's long journey through hyperspace. Dubrillion had been a long detour from their original destination, but the directional diversion was necessary to cover their tracks, despite the multiple jumps to disguise their trail. They would be stupid not to assume that someone, somewhere wasn't looking for their particular captives. Per the orders of the captain of the vessel, Uhalû the Quick to Anger, total radio silence was maintained in between the jumps.

 

In the decks below, a young teenage girl was tossed back into her cell, the attempts to break her done for the moment. They gave her no treatment for her injuries because, as everyone knew, Jedi could heal themselves. Despite the respite in cruelty, the cell afforded no comforts other than a cold, hard floor to rest on and nothing interesting to stare at, and, due to the sound-proofing, nothing to hear. It was dark and it was cold, much like the galaxy in nature. The young Jedi was having her youthful naivete and innocence beaten from her bit by bit. They'd even tried playing mind games with her, which was no small feat for the Gemmorean in charge, apparently the brain-trust of his entire race, and likely the result of some strange experiment gone horribly wrong.

 

A few hours later the cell door opened, and one of the captors leveled a blaster at the Jedi in warning, like her cellmate, the girl had killed two of the crew. He personally didn't think that it was worth the danger that the girl posted, her powers and abilities largely unknown. If it wouldn't have ended his life, he'd have put a round through her pale face and been done with it.

 

Behind him, shadowy figures moved and appeared to be dumping a limp body back on the opposite side of the room, the figure stayed still and they hastily exited, closing the door and engulfing the room once more in darkness that settled back into a slight dimness once eyes had the time to adjust once more to what little light there was in the room.

 

The Mandalorian woman wasn't moving, her clothes were more torn than when Sandy had last seen her, and there was a lot more dried blood. Her breathing was very shallow, but she was still alive. Her arms were restrained behind her in a pair of stun-cuffs, Uhalû and his men deciding that leaving her free was a good way to loose more men. She stayed silent and still for a long time, but whether she was in the grip of the paralyzers still, or hurt too much to move, Sandy couldn't be sure.

 

Through the Force the woman's presence was calm and cold as ice, yet there was something dark and dangerous that seemed to be swirling just below the surface. It was as though she'd flipped a switch, completely turned off her emotional responses and was now far retreated within herself. Being prey didn't sit well with the woman and the echoes in the Force told Sandy that she wouldn't allow things to continue for much longer, despite the drugs they were pumping her into her system. She was fighting them even now, as still and peaceful as she appeared.

 

She was trapped in her mind still, and there she had no place to hide from what was happening, and those thoughts and replays just made her angrier and angrier, but she'd been taught not to let her temper rule her actions, so the wound was going to fester until she finally got the chance to lance it. There was not enough crew on the ship to survive that lancing.

[Tobias Vos]

Tobias concentrated; the joy of helping out the down-trotted, orphans and people in general. Maybe some other thoughts were mixed into the bunch as well, but he really didn't pay any mind to them. The man held up his hand over the wound. Concentration, he imagined closing the wound with his mind. Nerves regenerated,Blood Vessels connected, fat deposits moved back into place. It took about 15 or so minutes, but this was his first time.

 

Peaking out he saw that the would and indeed closed and was looking healthy. He let out a sigh of relief, and moved his hand away to wipe a bead of sweat from his brow.

 

He summoned a piece of mirror, whom the previous owner had seen fit to break in the bathroom. He held the shard in his hand so she could see his handy-work. "Is that sufficient?" He asked.

[Adenna Alluyen]

Adenna felt her scalp with her fingers and noticed there was no pain. She was still a mess with dried blood, but the skin itself had the pink color of new skin that would fade in a day or two. "Yes, it is. That was a very simple healing task that helps you learn the basic premises. More complex healing will require more learning and experience, but we have nobody with which to get that experience from. Unless you want to inflict wounds upon yourself so you can heal them, we will have to wait until we can get to a hospital or some similar place to train further. That is part of what I was doing with Sandy when we encountered you."

 

She stood up and looked over her dirty robes and light armor. Part of her missed being back at the Temple on Gala or Tython where she had an abundance of clean robes to wear. She was already trying to figure out how to wash her clothes with only one set and still have something to wear. She should have insisted on at least getting some extra supplies before rushing off. Food was another thing that she was not sure they had much of. Her utility belt had a few small rations in it, but it wasn't even a full meal. It would be an interesting journey.

 

"I am going to take a shower. See if you can find some food while I am doing that." She got up and went to the small refresher, closed the door, and started the water. There was some old soap there that she wasn't entirely sure of, but it was better than nothing.

[Tobias Vos]

A flicker of a smile flashed across Vos's face. "No, I believe that is more work than I am ready for. But I'm glad my skill set is to your liking." He really wished he had just learned it there, at the hospital where he met them. But, It was for the better he was on this little trip.

 

Adenna said she was going to go shower now, Tobias just responded with a "Have fun." and went to go grab some chow. He went around the ship, going to take a general inventory, maybe even read the robe and the ax further. Countless things needed to be done. Including naming the ship...

 

Headed back to the cockpit for a moment, he checked the ETA on Corusant, only about an hour left. He spun to leave the cockpit and head to the pantry. He found some freeze-dried food, along with some recent fresh food. Quickly making them, it was a sort of pasta salad. Tasting it, he rather enjoyed it.

 

Eating half of his share, he dumped the rest back into the pot, leaving it for Adenna. He made his way aft, to where the spray paint was on the outside. Finding the paint from the inside, or close to where it was he pressed his hands against the bulkhead and concentrated.

[Sandy Sarna]

Sandy sat, unchained, beaten, bruised, and broken. She cried softly, her bony knees pressed against her eye sockets. Curled up into a ball, crying and attempting to reach into the force for strength. Yet it did not avail her. So instead she cried, and sobbed, and tried to ignore the screaming nerves in her back and body. She looked up when her friend was tossed in, limp and deathly. Sandy scrambled over to her in the dark, relying on her aura to guide her. It was strange, she didn't seem to have one before. But now she did. And she also seemed close to death, and she seemed dark...evil in a way. But she was the only one that had cared for her, and Sandy had to help.

 

So, with great effort, Sandy ignored her own wounds ad pain, and concentrated upon her friend. Sending calming forces into her, concentrating on the cells that had been shocked and cut, healing slowly but surely. Sandy remained crouched over her friend. He long blonde hair messed and dirty, blood dripping slowly from her head and other places on her body. She coughed hollowly and then concentrated upon the bindings, moving the tumblers in various configurations until finally one by one they clicked into place. With a ”˜thunk' they fell away.

 

Soon the ship would arrive at Tatooine.

[Adenna Alluyen]

After taking as quick a shower as she could and still get the grime off, Adenna made the decision to wash her clothes in the shower with the same soap. It wasn't great, but it was better than nothing. She kept her outer robes dry so she had something to wear while the rest of her clothes were drying. It was still dirty, but there was nothing she could do about it because she wasn't going to be walking around completely naked with Vos on board.

 

She moved as fast as she could since she knew water on board a ship was not infinite and wasn't sure how well the ship's recyclers and filtration system worked. When she was done, she made sure her outer robes were securely tied and left the refresher to find a place to hang her clothes.

 

She smelled some marginally appetizing food in the air. She was starving even after having eaten some of her field rations and would have probably eaten almost anything at this point. She didn't see either Vos or his beast, but she could sense both nearby. She wasn't sure if it was for her or not, but she was too hungry to let it all go uneaten. She found something to eat with that she hoped was clean and scooped a few bites out of the pot. It wasn't the best she had ever eaten, but it was far from horrible. With how hungry she was, she wasn't going to complain. She forced herself to stop after just three bites and go looking for Vos to see if he would to take a shower.

[Tobias Vos]

He closed his eyes and felt the hull. Using the Force he could feel the particles of metal- and that of the paint. Exhaling he tried to separate the two different signatures. It was very precise work, making sure not to rip a hole in the hull. After a few moments of separating paint from meta, Tobias moved on.

 

Walking to his room, he sat down on the bed. He patted Sooba on the head and crossed his legs, the Ax on his lap. Touching his hand to the ax he was flooded with memories. He sifted through the important ones, the ones relating to their ship. The layout of the ship, general habit's of the crew, stuff like that. He sat there for the longest time, until he heard Adenna come down the hallway.

[Adenna Alluyen]

Adenna found Vos with his beast in one of the sparsely decorated and furnished quarters she assumed he had claimed as his own. He had the slaver's axe in hand, but wasn't holding it in a way that denoted threats or violence. She pulled out his lightsaber and offered it to him.

 

"If you mean to be a Jedi, we will have to do something about this lightsaber. I know how much of a person goes into making one. You created this while you were a Sith and in the darkness. Therefore, no matter how much you may wish otherwise, it will always be tainted and a reminder to you of that time."

 

She paused in hesitation. She was not sure if he would like this next part at all. "If you are being truthful in your desire to walk the path of the Jedi and of the light side, you will need to destroy this lightsaber in its entirety. You can then build a new lightsaber from scratch that won't have that darkness within."

 

She held up a hand to forestall any argument from him and continued, "I know you will likely argue that you will need it as we go after the slavers. I know that, but will point out that we will likely always be heading toward one dangerous situation or another. Having this with you is a danger, the longer you have it, the worse it will be. I would prefer you do it right now, but I am not going to make you do that. I will let you decide when you want to do it. The sooner you do it, the better."

[Emily]

Pirates and slavers had been operating in increasing frequency over the past several standard months. It was partially in response to the formation of the new government, and partially in response to the seclusion of the Jedi, and certainly there were a whole other host of reasons.

 

Emily hadn't really been listening to the holonews recently. She had been too busy being wrapping in her own affairs to pay attention to what was going on in the wider galaxy. And really, no one could blame her if they knew what she had been through these past few months.

 

But as a result, she wasn't on alert for danger. And it was then that the pirates swooped in.

 

She had been feigning sleep, not wanting to be disturbed, when the ship suddenly gave a huge lurch. Immediately the cabin was filled with a few shouts of alarm, warning klaxons blaring, and the hubbub of talk from the passengers. Emily squinted out the viewport and saw several ships surrounding them. It looked like an old Corellian gunship, a Firespray-class ship, and several others. She swore under her breath. This is the last thing I need right now!

 

The pirates were efficient. In no time they were clamping boarding tubes to the transport ship and were cutting through the hull. Emily wasn't sure what she should do. She had a small hold-out blaster tucked in her boot, but that was it; all of her other gear, including her mother's lightsaber, were back on Coruscant. Glancing around at the other passengers, most of whom were now in a state of outright panic, she decided that she would stay out of the way and hope to be ignored. The pirates would raid the ship for valuables, and hopefully leave the passengers alive. Sure, they'd probably shoot one or two of the heroes just to make a point, but Emily thought that she would be able to make it out in one piece if she kept her head down.

 

There was a clunk of durasteel falling to the deck, and the pirates poured through the opening. "Round 'em up, boys!" a human with dark skin ordered, his long dreadlocks framing his scarred face.

 

Emily suddenly had a really terrible feeling. Her worst fears were confirmed when she saw the motley crew grabbing people left and right, binding them, and hauling them off to the side, stunning those who resisted. They're not pirates. They're slavers.

 

The time for keeping her head down was gone. She would not let herself be captured by these brutes! She snuck her hold-out from inside her boot and readied herself for when they approached her. She didn't know what she was going to do, but knew that she had to act. So when a Weequay approached her and made to grab her, she stood and shot him right in the face.

 

That got the slavers' attention. "Get 'er!" the human captain shouted. Three more slavers advanced on her, maneuvering her into a corner. Emily waited until they were close, then with a mighty Force-shove, hurled them back against the wall of the room. They slumped to the floor.

 

"Jedi!" the dark-skinned man cursed. He had a greedy gleam in his eyes. "She'll be worth more than the rest of them put together!"

 

There was no where to run. Emily managed to Force-push several more slavers away, but she knew she was in a bad situation. Even if she managed to take out all of these slavers, there were bound to be many more in the other ships. She ducked as one man made to grab her, then tripped over the body of one of the passengers who had been made an example of.

 

That moment of distraction was all the slavers needed. Stun bolts rang out, and her body lit up for once second with blue fire before she slumped to the ground. The slaver captain strode up to her. His nasty grin was the last thing she saw before he pumped several most stun bolts into her. The world went black, and Emily knew no more.

[Tobias Vos]

"Very well then. But this is on the bottom of my to-do list. I already had a new design for my hilt anyways. Onto more pressing matters... On Corusant I feel you and I should split up." Tobias got up, putting the Ax from the former Slaver against the wall, then turning back to his teacher.

 

"I will contact my underworld Contacts...you can get ahold of CoreSec. My face does not need to be out in the public with alot of cameras, because of the spaceport...." Lights and buzzers went off. "We have arrived at Corusant, come on." The Kiffar got up to walk to the cockpit. The beast got up, "Sooba, stay." It pranced around for a second then sat back down. "Shall we?" He motioned to their destination.

 

 

Suddenly a nauseating feeling came about him. Gripping his stomach, he paused in moving. Odd, I have not felt that pressence in....ohhh....I must check this out... He thought.

[Adenna Alluyen]

Adenna did not necessarily agree with Vos' logic, but splitting up would allow them to cover a bit more ground. Though, her concern was that he would take the time to do something foolish with the Sith on Coruscant and either get himself beaten to a pulp again or killed. She was also disappointed at his putting off destroying his tainted lightsaber, but that was not a decision she was going to make for him.

 

As they were talking toward the cockpit, he seemed to waver. Through the Force, she could feel a fluctuation in his emotions that was odd. "What is wrong?" she asked.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

((Actually a straight route in Hyperspace as the crow flies from Dubrillion to Tatooine should take roughly 3-4 days, with multiple jumps to disguise the route it would take longer than that, so we'll be enroute for a bit while the others catch up. J))

 

After Lura and his group had finished with her, Gedeminas had stepped back in to apply bacta and other treatments to keep her alive as she was barely there at this point. He'd also done a bit of surgery and had fitted her with a medicinal pump that kept a steady, but relatively safe dosage of the spice and sedative mixture in her system. It was specifically rigged with a sophisticated tampering alert system that would alert Uhalû personally if anyone attempted to remove it or change the dosage.

 

Though still trapped in her mind from whatever other drugs the good doctor had introduced to her system, Mirdala responded to Sandy's calming energy and the raging anger became a cold and calculating need for gra'tua. After about a half hour, the paralyzing agent had worn off to the point that she could begin to move again, but only slightly as though she were moving through quicksand, and, at the moment she didn't feel ling exerting that much energy. Still, she was grateful that Sandy had removed the stun-cuffs for the time being, but they would have to be replaced if their captors returned otherwise punishment for both would be swift, but slow and painful.

 

”œVor'e Ad'ika,”

[Tobias Vos]

As quickly as it came, the feeling was gone. He looked over to Adenna, "Nothing, perhaps the freeze dried food is disagreeing with me. Let's get planet side now." his voice trailed off as he walked to the cockpit. He needed to hit planet side.

 

As soon as he got to the cockPit, he grabbed the controls to take the ship in manually.

[Adenna Alluyen]

Adenna may have been born and raised on a backwater planet in the Outer Rim, but she was not born yesterday nor was she stupid. She was growing tired of Vos' deceptions, half truths, and dodges. She followed him into the cockpit and did not let it go. "That was hardly 'nothing' I felt back there, and it sure as hell wasn't your dinner. What was that really?" She didn't go as far as to use the Force to make him feel more inclined to answer, but she did focus her senses on him to make sure she was getting the complete, unaltered truth from him. He could lie, but he would have to be very, very good to get away from it.

[Tobias Vos]

"Something happened to my former Master.... And that is something personal I would have enjoyed to keep to myself. You need to start trusting me. Your skepticism is starting to get old. Now, Here we are." Vos kept his eyes out the window, spotting an empty dock. Touching down, he got up from his seat.

 

"We should hurry.... I sense time is closing various options to us." He motioned for the door.

[Adenna Alluyen]

"How can I trust you when you keep hiding things and lying to me, especially when they relate to the Sith?" replied Adenna. She made note of the fact that he still shared a link with his former Sith master with some trepidation and wondered how far it went.

 

Now that they had landed, she needed to get to CoreSec. Before she did that, though, she needed to get dressed. She grabbed her somewhat clean clothes and went to the refresher to change out of her dirty outer robe and into them. Leaving the dark blue outer robe behind, she emerged in her tunic and pulled out her comlink to summon a taxi. Once she was done summoning a ride, she stood outside the ship to wait for it.

[Tobias Vos]

Tobias went back to his quarters as well, feeding Sooba, he was quickly out the hatch. Locking it up as he left he saw Adenna, waiting for something. Re-Fitting his coat over his shoulders, he approached her.

 

"I have a simple answer for you, don't ask about them. Best leave that part of me behind eh? How can I, when you bring it up all the time, don't trust me and what not. I was trained to look out for myself since I was Four years old. Deception and keeping things private is how I made it this far. I can't change on a dime, and I wish you could see that..."

 

He paused looking up into the sky. "I'll come find you when I am done. I locked the ship up so you can't get in fyi. You need to quit worrying about me, I am a big boy, I can handle my own. We need to find our girl, and be quick about it." And with that, he spun on his heel and walked over to where the landing ramp entered the building. It was an older building, which had a pipe running down the side of it. Vos jumped to it and held on, much like a baboon.

 

"Hurry up. I'll be in touch!" He flashed a smile and waved. And with that, he squealed down the pipe towards the Bowels of Corusant. A very distinct "YAH-HOOOO" Could be heard echoing from below.

 

 

(To the bowels!)

[Sandy Sarna]

Sandy shifted her weight slightly and pulled her thin knees to cover her chest. She looked over her bare shoulder, and recognized the foul wound. Thin tendrils of red had spread from the wound, down the back and across her thin chest. She grimaced. And pulled her blonde hair back away from her chest and back, and sighed. ”œI am such a wreck.....”

[Qaela]

Onboard the St. Cathryne en route to Coruscant

 

It took a little while for the drugs to wear off, but they eventually did. Qaela didn't want to risk using the Force to clean them out of her system, not while recovering from surgery and when she was trying to reestablish the pregnancy acceleration spell. Instead, she let her body naturally process the chemicals.

 

When she was back in her normal frame of mind, she was mortified. She had done something very, very foolish and feared what would happen. Now she was stuck on a ship full of males who clearly didn't like her one bit. She could sense their hostility aimed at her because of her casual threat, even if they hadn't realized that she was talking about killing them and not Ca'Aran himself. She shouldn't have said anything. The drugs had caused her to lose control of her mind, a very foolish thing indeed. It was almost as bad as losing her mind to rage.

 

Everywhere she went on the ship, those blasted bodyguards of his eyed her with barely concealed hostility. She didn't trust them and they didn't seem to trust her. If she had her way, she would have never had them join the two of them. The thought of a nice, long trip alone with Ca'Aran was a pleasant one.

 

After being in her room most of the first day taking care of herself and her unborn babies, she emerged wearing her usual black tunic and pants. She was looking for something to eat and to find Ca'Aran. She found him before finding food and looked at him.

 

To her disappointment, he was not alone, but had a few of his minions with him. She doubted that they would ever leave his side, so decided to ignore them as much as possible. "Ca'Aran," she said in a low voice. "I meant to speak to you now that I am more myself. Thank you for helping me back on the cursed swamp and for having your doctors patch you up." She was grateful indeed. While she had the knowledge that he was a powerful man, it had not been real to her until they went to Dubrillion. He was not just a mere soldier like she had first thought upon meeting him, he was far more powerful than any clan leader on Dathomir. In many ways, he was even more powerful than Ar-Pharazon and the entire Sith Order.

 

She didn't like to be put in this situation, but knew with him her normal ways of seduction and persuasion wouldn't work. Unlike most of the young, healthy males she had come across, Ca'Aran didn't seem to desire particular companionship. He was a simple man in many things. That, coupled with the amount of power he had and his gleeful slaughtering of innocents puzzled and intrigued her. He was unlike any other male she had met.

 

Her voice became more nervous as she continued, "About what I said, I didn't mean it to sound like a threat, I wasn't all together. I would never hurt you unless you attacked me or mine. Of all the beings in this Galaxy, you are the only one I would risk my life for."

 

She couldn't look at his face any more and felt her cheeks warming. If Mother could see her now, she would kill her in an instant. She almost didn't want to say anything, but recent events had changed a few things. Perhaps she could blame it on the inherent instability of pregnancy with all those hormones raging. Perhaps she could blame it on the beatings and torture she had suffered throughout her life. Either way, some part of her knew that if she didn't act upon this particular weakness now, she might never gain the courage to do it again. "About the. . . other thing I said, I did mean it, in my own way. I don't know if one of the darkness as I can ever truly love another, but I want to at least try to love you as best as I can. You care for me, that much I can sense, but I don't know which way you care for me. I can only hope that it isn't just for what I carry in my belly."

 

At last, she looked at his face and into his eyes. "I know you despise parts of my life. I can't say that I am always proud of what I have done and how I have done it, but it was necessary. I do what I must do to survive and make no apologies for that. I am what I am just as you are what you are. I love you and hope that one day, you could share that sentiment."

[Delta73]

Ca'Aran stood in his ready room, pouring over old maps and floor plans of the Last Call. As well as an old parchment map of the underworld, a place that had gone unchanged for countless generations. Escape routes were mulled over, considered, and then quickly rejected. Many unknowns existed on that planet, though it was a giant city, the lowest levels were wildlands. Filled with rabble and scum, where the changing governments never effected them, save of course when a SSD came crashing down on top their hovels.

 

He sighed and pushed a roll of parchment to the side, and ran his hand through his now dark hair. He looked like any other clone now, save for the lighter skin. He disliked the difference from his natural state, the blonde hair he had given himself during the waning months of the clone wars. While his Jedi Commander still lived, when she had urged him to break himself from the mould of the cookie-cutter soldier. He had obeyed her, and now here he was, years later, in command of all the wealth of the criminal syndicates. Yet he was still not satisfied. Money and power brought much, yet it also left much to be desired. He had wished to be a soldier all his life, he had given up the carnal pleasures, and instead had married himself to his career. And even now, he thought nothing of it.

 

There was a gentle knock upon the open door, his ice blue eyes glanced up, and instead of the helmsman or the boatswain, stood Qaela. The Danthomiri Witch girl who had bedded the great dark wizard, in an effort to gain his favour. Their eyes met deep purple to ice blue. Both glances fierce, both defiant, and both yearning for something hidden deep within the soul.

 

Ca'Aran straightened from where he had been hunched over the table, then bowed low when she had finished her first sentence. ”œWe were only too happy to help my lady, as for the threat? You were forgiven the moment it was uttered. My Lady, think nothing of it, we are soldiers here, and used to such things.”

[Qaela]

((Sorry for the length, I had a lot to accomplish here so I could close a few backstories and explain a few things.))

 

When Ca'Aran sent out his men, sealed up her emotions and expressions as tightly as she could with all of her training in deception and misdirection. On the outside, she was impassive, waiting patiently for his response. If he had wanted to attack her, he wouldn't have sent the men away.

 

The battle hardened man stood there considering what she had said. For Qaela, it was a far more critical moment than he knew. Her life hanged in the balance, at least, that is what she had come to believe. At first, she thought her mother was too superstitious and controlling, but then she had her collapse on Dathomir that changed her mind.

 

As much as she wanted to use all of her skills at seduction, manipulation, and dark influence, she couldn't. Not only was Ca'Aran's mind and will strong enough for those efforts to eventually fail, but it would doom her anyway. She had to fight the temptation to interfere for her own sake if nothing else.

 

She could feel the emotions swirling about him, but held herself back. It took all of her self control, but she had no choice. When at last he looked back at her, she knew the moment of decision had come.

 

After he gave his reply, Qaela felt a heavy burden lift off her shoulders. For too long she had lived under a great strain that drained her and left her constantly on edge. Her mother had told her of it and, in all likelihood, caused it to be. In the end, though, it didn't matter. She had beaten her mother.

 

She could only muster a simple but genuine smile before feeling her legs grow weak. It wasn't pain, but relief. She managed to get to a chair before collapsing into it and breathing a great sigh. As her breath left her body, so did a lot of stress and worry.

 

"It is gone," she whispered as a tear slid down her cheek. If Ca'Aran had learned to sense emotions through the Force, he would be able to sense her complete relief and, quite possibly, a tiny bit of joy buried under the darkness and cynicism that blanketed her soul.

 

Knowing he would not likely understand, Qaela proceeded to explain what she had never told anyone else, what nobody but herself and her mother knew. Her mother, Teyati, was not the most powerful or even the most cunning of Nightsisters, but she had a knack for seeing the various possibilities the future held. It was she who had concocted the plan of allying with the Sith and even of mingling the Sith and Nightsister bloodlines to eventually strengthen the Dathomiri.

 

Qaela herself had been trained and groomed from early childhood to be the one who went out to accomplish several things. Among them was, as Ca'Aran knew, to form an alliance with the Sith. That had not worked out as, instead of a powerful ally, she had found a conniving, backstabbing, murderous lot bent only on killing each other instead of their true enemies. There were other purposes in her life, but that was the primary one even if it had changed and the Nightsisters no longer considered the Sith as viable allies.

 

Qaela went on to explain the secrets that she had told nobody else. When she sent her daughter offworld for the first time, Qaela's mother had warned her of portents that she needed to be aware of. She had seen a vision through the Force while conducting a rare and powerful spell of foresight and prophecy. Qaela had three curses which she must never break and three blessings she must accomplish. If she broke the curses before finishing the blessings, she would face certain doom beyond anything she had ever experienced. What that doom entailed, Qaela didn't know, but considering she had been beaten brutally, raped without mercy, stabbed, shot, burned, clawed, tortured, whipped, starved, and all host of horrible things throughout her life, Qaela didn't want to imagine what could be worse. On the flipside, though, if she could fulfill the three blessings first, the curses would be lifted and she would be free.

 

The first of the curses was that she must never wield a lightsaber for it had seen the death of many Nightsisters when Luke Skywalker had visited their planet. She had broken that at Haphaestus' insistence back on Coruscant. The second was that she must never, ever utter that she was a Nightsister to anyone who was not already within the clan. She had broken that on Dathomir in a fit of rage against Ares.

 

There were also three blessings or requirements to be fulfilled, Qaela explained. The first was to gain access to the source of Sith knowledge. It was the barrier that allowed the Sith to utilize unspoken spells and wield such great power so quickly. That was accomplished over time through training with various Sith, namely Haphaestus and her own reading in the Sith Library. The second was to acquire a Sith child with which the bloodlines of the Nightsisters and the Sith would merge to give the Dathomiri access to a more pure and powerful source of the Force. For a long time, all Dathomiri bloodlines had been weakened through their isolation, they needed fresh blood to strengthen their connection to the Force. That was the only reason why she had agreed to lie with Ar-Pharazon: he was the most powerful of all the Sith she had so far met.

 

With more tears flowing, Qaela explained the final of the three blessings she must fulfill: she had to find someone who would love her. It couldn't be just anyone, it had to be someone who knew what she was, what she was capable of and, most importantly, didn't let that stop them. She couldn't manipulate them or use the Force to force their emotions, it had to be of their own free will. To make matters more difficult, she couldn't tell anyone of this part because then it would permanently block them from being the one to fulfill it. Knowledge of the blessing would taint them just as much as her using the Force to manipulate them into the decision would.

 

With that last bit in the open, Qaela sagged heavily in the chair. The effort of being so open with anyone was draining because it was so foreign to her. The relief she felt at having her burden lifted coupled with strange and new emotions overwhelmed her for a moment. She had not imagined that she would ever find a way to allow love into her life. In truth, she had fought it for too long out of fear. While the Nightsisters didn't quite have such strong aversion to selfless love like the Sith, they recognized that it could lead to foolish decisions and weakness. Qaela had believed that and used that knowledge to shield her from emotions even while she manipulated the exact same feelings in others. It had served her well in times past, but it had also landed her in trouble as was the case with the angry Sith acolyte who had returned to beat and rape her for manipulating him.

 

But now, perhaps, that was over. She no longer felt the need to bottle her emotions off, to cut herself off from happiness and love. Never in her life had she experienced true love, not from her mother, not from her clan, and not even from the various men she had manipulated and been with. With Ca'Aran, that might change. A lifetime of armor painstakingly built around her heart and soul had been slowly eroded over the last few months of hardship and strain. At long last, there was a crack in the defenses and it almost scared her.

 

She was still afraid of a great many things, but now at least she had one less thing to worry about and possibly, just possibly, a chance to reclaim a tiny bit of her humanity before it was all lost to her.

[Mirdala Ad'Goran]

Mirdala managed a wry smile as she found the strength to move a bit more and shifted closer to the girl, "Ad'ika, what makes you think that I'll be able to help you heal the jetiise way?"

 

Her speech was slightly slurred, testament to the fact that the drugs were still strongly in her system and gaining a greater foothold in her body. Still, the Force told her that the girl had guessed her game and pieced together that Mirdala was a Force-Adept, a secret that the Mando'ad woman would have to insist that the girl keep. It was crucial to her escape plan that counted on unleashing the surprise that the slavers had unwittingly been helping her to enhance her growing power in the Force through the use of the spice mixture. It was the one of the reasons why she was the one that had been given the drugs and her compatriot had been denied them.

 

Her captors were engineering their own doom as they tried to get her to comply with their demand for information through the use of drugs, experimentation, assault, rape and torture. Not only were the drugs making her Force connection and abilities stronger, but they were also fueling the need to exact gra'tua upon them. Mirdala would have her tor, all that was needed was the right timing and resources. Acting too quickly the effort would be a waste, and, she sensed, their chance would come once they reached their destination and went to ground.

 

The two of them could try to escape now, but there was no where to run in hyperspace. Mirdala doubted that any of the auxiliary vessels on board the Golden Ark would have hyperspace capabilities.

 

It was also very unlikely that they'd be able to time their escape while the ship was in normal space to even be able to launch the vessel.

 

The chances were equally slim that the Ark was even traveling in the usual shipping lanes, and any non-hyperspace capable vessel would likely be a slow limp back to any sort of system and the two of them would run out of supplies and life-support by that point.

 

As much as it galled her to admit it, staying put and being subjected to the tender mercies of their captors was their best option now. The time would not be squandered, but spent to train each other to their advantage so that they would be ready when that time came.

 

The girl was clever to have pieced together Mirdala's secret so quickly. Though, Mirdala thought, it could be that she could actually sense my connection when I was unconscious.

 

The sandy-haired girl coughed again as she began to explain what she'd been taught. In an odd way, she suddenly seemed very old all of a sudden, as though touching the Force had poured years of existence and knowledge into her frail form. While Mirdala's instincts told her that she didn't like the sound of the cough, she listened to the girl's words closely.

 

It was obvious from how the infection was spreading through her body that the girl wasn't going to survive much longer without help from either Mirdala or some extended bacta sessions. The red streaks seemed to be dangerously close to encroaching on the young girl's heart and other vital organs, and no doubt would likely cause irreversible harm to her if she wasn't helped quickly. She seemed to understand the seriousness of the issue as well, though tried unsuccessfully to diffuse the moment with a bit of off-color humour that caused Mirdala's gaze to narrow in distaste.

 

The Mando'ad gave the girl a dark look, clearly not appreciating the macabre attempt at humor. Attempting to make light of a situation was one thing, and Mirdala often did it well, but to have comments like that coming from someone who was barely a child, sickened Mirdala further. How badly was this experience warping her body, mind, and soul? She was so young and had none of the training that Mirdala had been through.

 

Even with Mirdala's training, and she considered herself to be as strong and as tough as beskar, she was beginning to have a hard time coping with what they were going through. She suspected that this was in part due to the drugs in her system, but she knew that even she had her limits of endurance. How did one prepare someone for this type of ordeal? What sort of person would ever want to? Mirdala chose to let those thoughts pass as she did her best to focus again on the habir'jetiis, suddenly feeling tired as the latest dosage round tapered off and the slight time lag between doses started.

 

Mirdala laughed hollowly as her eyelids drifted closed for a moment as the child told her to put aside her anger towards the slavers. Anger didn't seem the right word for the emotions that had surfaced earlier for the Mando'ad before, it was too simplistic, too basic. They'd caged her, and then had taunted her in the cage - the room that she was now in, the torture rooms, as well as caging her in her own mind. Then they'd taunted that caged animal, poking, prodding, teasing and torturing until she could physically endure no more without healing and rest just so they could begin again when the mood suited them. It was inevitability, that was possibly the best description for this subset of emotion. It was inevitable that the caged animal would turn on her captors and they would deserve every ounce of what they got when that time came.

 

For now, though, it was as though that caged nexu was stalking serenely back and forth, biding her time until her captors grew complacent and she could spring forth and deliver swift justice upon them.

 

"Ad'ika, the flame of anger has passed to a sharp focus, one that I will use well when the time comes. As ade we are taught to not let that flame consume us, but rather to use it to achieve greater focus to make us stronger. Anger makes people do stupid things at stupid times. It is a head-strong emotion that we are taught to leave behind when it doesn't serve a purpose. Acting rashly is a fast way to get killed."

 

Mirdala reached out and carefully guided the girl until she had her back to her. "Munit tome'tayl, skotah iisa," she said, seemingly contradicting herself, but then she explained a bit more. "It means 'long memory, short fuse', we Mando'ade can be champion grudge holders. When the time comes, I won't let my 'anger' get the best of me, but those hut'uune will get what's coming to them."

 

Mirdala realized that the more she spoke, what she was saying was sure to sound akin to what she'd heard of the dar'jetiise's methods and approaches to the Force, but she sensed that despite how similar they sounded there was something inherently different in when and how the focus was used. The dar'jetiise seemed content to harness their anger and drive it to a rage only to set the galaxy aflame for want of watching it to simply burn for its own sake. Her methods were that of exacting tor for wrongs that were done to her and those that could not avenge themselves. She wasn't sure that the jetiise with their lofty ideas and blinding sense of morality would see the distinction, and nor did she care. She would have joined up if she had. There was only one side that she was on, and that was that of the Resol'nare and Mando'ade. If the girl didn't understand that now, perhaps she would one day.

 

Still, Mirdala knew that she needed a purer serenity than that of the biding nexu to help save the girl. A brighter emotion was needed, one not tainted by the recent happenings, something that could take her far from here. "What do you say that we give this a try? Meh gar kyrayc, shuk bah ni Ad'ika." Mirdala didn't bother translating for the girl, knowing that the sentiment would be carried through the Force as the two of them connected to enact the healing. "You've seemed to have guessed my secret young one," there was a very slight irritation to her voice, as though she would have liked to have kept it from the girl, but she had asked and the girl wasn't a di'kut.

 

Her tone brightened though as she continued, "You guide me. I have had a little material to study so I'll have the basic idea, but I'll just follow your lead."

 

Mirdala placed her hand gently on the girl's exposed shoulder, it was almost searing hot - a sure sign that the teen had a fever and was fighting back what she could naturally and without the aid of the Force. Mirdala focused on the heat using it to anchor her in a lighter emotion.

 

The heat from the girl's shoulder became the heat of the twin suns of Tatooine, to a happier time when she'd ran the cantina with Tracyn. For a moment her impression in the Force shifted, as the memory brought back as strong feeling of aay'han, a particularly Mando'ade emotion of bittersweet memory and remembrance. Still, she recognized at that point that she'd made her peace with his death, and the warmth had spread to another.

 

It was in the sands of the great Dune Sea that she and Fett had truly began their journey together - begun simply as traat'aliit'ad, trusting each other, a relationship that had now begun its slow, but steady shift to something more. Mirdala latched on to that feeling of cyarir and used it to direct the Force in healing the weakened jetiise.

 

The two of them sat silently for a while, Mirdala focusing on how Fett had helped her heal after Tracyn's death, the memories and emotions from the Mando'ad flowing through the Force and inducing healing in the young jetii. It would take several more times before the girl was up to full strength, but Mirdala knew that it was crucial no matter how much helping the habir'jetii heal drained her already worn body. Apparently Gedeminas had been correct in that the constant dose of spice helped to augment Force powers. Mirdala couldn't help but wonder what the cost would be, as most Force-users weren't exactly lining up to partake in the substance, not even the power-hungry dar'jetiise. Still, it was serving to help them now.

 

Mirdala finally broke the physical contact, feeling extremely drained and drowsy. "You never told me your name Ad'ika," she managed, her words slurring even more now that she was exhausted. She scratched lightly at the bare skin on her arms as though she felt something crawling on her arms, tiny and unseen. She could keep using Ad'ika, of course, but she preferred something more specific to call the girl.